It's Always Birds
by Official Rambler
Summary: Two girls find themselves in over their heads with one fairy court, so proceed to get in just as deep with another, to gain protection from the first.


_DISCLAIMER: Don't own it, (except all original characters, f'dur,) am not making money off it. Don't sue. You'll be disappointed._

* * *

Ollie crashed into the gate, fumbling at the latch for a moment before pulling it open and toppling through. She looked over her shoulder nervously, eyes scanning the empty, moonlit street behind her. Swallowing, she took a breath and stumped up the teal-painted porch stairs and raised a hand to rap her knuckles on the side of the metal screen door. A minute passed, with Ollie catching her breath and looking around awkwardly, hands shoved into the pockets of her peacoat. Finally the door opened. It was Gen's mother.

"Come in," said Gen's mother, opening the inner solid door, figuring Ollie could open the screen door herself. "Gen's in her room."

"Hi," said Ollie, nodding at the woman, who was established at her computer on the desk by the door, playing an MMORPG. "Thanks," Ollie said, and tramped through the house, around the corner and through the bathroom, to Gen's tiny, familiar bedroom.

"Oh hey," said Gen, brightening as her friend came through the door. Her expression shifted almost immediately to one of concern, as she took in Ollie's pale, breathless face, and remembered that it was after dark. "What's up? You look like… well, more undead than usual."

"I got in," rasped Ollie, collapsing into Gen's computer chair backwards. Gen was sitting on her bed. She tilted her head at Ollie's cryptic words.

"Got in? Got in where? Ollie, what's going on?" Gen whispered, not quite knowing why she was. The expression on her friend's face was familiar. It was usually reserved for reporting an alien abduction or a particularly alarming piece of school scuttlebutt.

"I got in to see the Crow King," Ollie began, slowly. Her voice took on a deeper, somewhat hypnotic tone, the one she used when she was telling ghost stories. "I got into his court, through the entrance in the initials tree in the park. All the crows were there. I recognized the three that follow you. There were white mice and redcaps and men with fins and moss on their teeth. They tried to get me to eat, but that's the one thing you can't do in fairyland, else you'll stay forever. I got all the way to the King, and they tried to throw me out, but he let me say my piece… Gen, we have to _leave_ here, you're in _danger_…"

"Oh God," breathed Gen, subdued and serious. If anybody else had told her what Ollie just had, she would have disregarded it. But Gen trusted Ollie, especially with something this important. "What did the Crow King… what did he say, Ollie?"

"He… he needs to make a tithe soon, or his power over the crows will diminish… only he wants to bring human blood into his court permanent-like," said Ollie, swallowing. She brought her pale, shadowed eyes up to bear with Gen's keen brown ones, and wet her lips. "Gen, he means to claim you as his bride."

Gen clapped a hand over her mouth, and leaned slowly backwards, until she lay across her bed. She wasn't terribly surprised. After all, she had been followed by three crows almost constantly, for nearly a year now. Three was the augury number for a girl, or a wedding. It was just very weighty to hear it from Ollie, confirmed like this.

"Gen, we have to get out of here. Out of his jurisdiction, someplace where he won't follow us," Ollie pleaded, leaning forward. "Is there anyplace you could go?"

"Mom would never believe me," she said desperately. "I could go to dad's, but not until the weekend. How urgent is it?"

A thump and a clatter on Gen's window made them both jump, and the fleeting silhouette of wings against the glass answered her question.

"That urgent," said Ollie hollowly. "I tried to buy us more time, but I think I just made him speed up."

"How—who can we go to?" Gen asked desperately, standing up. Ollie bit her lip.

"No mortal could protect us," said Ollie. "And I don't know many immortals personally."

"The leprechaun?" Gen suggested.

"I don't think he likes me that much, and he might sell you out," worried Ollie.

"The Troll?" Gen offered, a little shakily. Ollie shook her head.

"Even if he would help us, we'd still have to get to his bridge unmolested… and there's no guarantee of either," she said. "We could call someone."

"Who? The Green Man? Tam Lin? The King of Cats? The Goblin King?" Gen threw names out there, although she was probably grasping at straws. Such demi-gods were not likely to help two mortal girls.

"The Goblin King might," said Ollie slowly, standing up. Another thump against the window, like the momentary beating of wings, made both girls start and stand closer together. They looked at each other.

"We have to try something," said Gen. "Do you want to call, or should I?"

"I will. I'll take responsibility," Ollie said, swallowing again. She tilted her head back, closing her eyes. "It has to begin with 'I wish,' doesn't it?"

"If we're thinking of the same Goblin King," said Gen, nodding.

"I wish… I wish that the Goblin King might take us away, to someplace safe from the Crow King!" Ollie cried out, voice rising in power as she finished her statement.

A beat, and then all was silent and the lights went out.

"What's…" Gen whispered, but a barn owl swooped in through the window, which had been, and to all intents and purposes, was still, closed. Ollie yelled and Gen shrieked, and they both ducked.

"Tisk, tisk, tisk," came a reproachful drawl from the darkness in one corner.

"Who's there!? Ollie, I thought you were calling the Goblin King, not some bird!" Gen squawked, straightening and scolding. Ollie was slower in righting herself, slower in turning to stare at the most shadowed corner.

"You called me, and yet you are surprised to see me," murmured the figure, who was still concealed in the corner.

"I'm not," muttered Ollie. "It's just that bloody silly stunt startled me, is all." Another thump and flutter of wings at the window made the girls jump again, but the crows could not get in. They hadn't been invited.

"Don't waste time, you're here, now take us somewhere safe!" said Gen imperiously. The Goblin King took a step forward, into the light from the window, and the girls flinched again. He was terribly tall, and his black cloak swirled in a breeze that touched nothing else. He arched one silver-blond eyebrow at Gen.

"Why on earth should I do such a thing?" he drawled, crossing his arms and leaning back a little. "I am not here at your whim, but to indulge my curiosity. Convince me."

"Humbug!" exclaimed Ollie. "We haven't the time! The Crow King will be here in minutes, and he means to make Gen his bride!"

"And?" asked the Goblin King, sounding infuriatingly bored.

"And we'd rather he didn't, thank you very much," said Gen, her mouth quirked downward, more irritated than afraid now.

"I ask again, why should I help you?" he asked, barely hiding a yawn.

"Bloody don't know, we'll do your dishes for you, write a comedy act, answer riddles—what'll it take!?" Ollie burst. The Goblin King smiled, dangerously.

"I'll take your brother," he said, looking directly at Gen.

"That's ridiculous, leave Isaac out of this!" Gen exclaimed. Another assault on the window made it shudder worrisomely.

"As you will," shrugged the Goblin King, and began to turn to leave.

"Wait, no!" Ollie protested, calling after him. He stopped, and turned to them, waiting. "One moment."

Ollie delicately rotated Gen by the shoulder, so that they were huddled away from the Goblin King.

"Are you nuts?" whispered Gen, before waving the question aside as quickly as she had posed it. "Rhetorical question. What do you think you're doing? He can't have my brother, Isaac has nothing to do with this."

"He's always had something to do with this. He's been to Faerie with us," frowned Ollie. "Besides, there's the challenge. There's always the challenge."

"You mean the Labyrinth?" Gen hissed.

"Come on, it's really win-win. We'll be safe from the Crow King," Ollie said, breaking into a grin that wasn't actually very reassuring. They turned back around, to face a Goblin King who looked almost catatonic with boredom.

"Take Isaac as the prize at the end of the Labyrinth. If we beat it in the thirteen hours, Isaac gets sent home and you have to protect us from the Crow King, on our terms, no matter what," said Ollie authoritatively, standing as straight as she could. It was an emphasis that was largely moot next to the towering Goblin King.

"And if you fail to conquer my Labyrinth?" he sneered.

"Well, then you get to keep Isaac, and both of us," said Ollie, but the words seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

"Why would I want you?" asked the King, clearly amused. "Two little girls too weak to protect themselves from events they brought on their own heads?"

"We're good at washing dishes," said Gen, shooting Ollie a furious glance. "And I can cook, and she can _go kick rocks and see if I ever let her negotiate for me_."

"Done!" barked the Goblin King, half-laughing, and produced a bright crystal globe out of nowhere. He held it for a moment, and the girls stared mesmerized. A flash of light from it, and Gen's room and the crows outside vanished, and the two girls and the Goblin King stood atop a hill, with the sunset red behind them, and the Labyrinth stretched out before them.

"You have thirteen hours," said the Goblin King idly. "You'll never make it. I look forward to having new dishwashers."

And then he vanished, and Gen picked up the nearest stick and hit Ollie so hard with it that it broke.

* * *

"Quit whining, will you?" Gen said, exasperated, as they picked their way down the hill. "Be glad I didn't kick you in the shins. This is all your fault."

"No, it's yours, for being irresistibly beautiful, at least to crows," grumped Ollie, still rubbing her shoulder, although the stick hadn't done any damage at all, thanks to her thick peacoat.

"Oh, god," groaned Gen, as they stumbled up to the walls. "Where's the door? It must go on for miles."

"Huh," said Ollie, walking up to the stone wall, and feeling around the edges of the stones. Creepers trailed up the sides of the wall, rotting at the mortar and creating numerous viable handholds. Business-like, almost without thinking, Ollie grasped the stones above her head and hauled herself up, quickly scaling to the top of the wall.

"What are you_doing_!?" Gen gasped, goggling at her. "You can't do that!"

"It's how I get past _any_ wall," snorted Ollie, sitting on the top and dangling her feet. "Why should the Labyrinth be special?"

"It's magic, Ollie, it could hurt you!" Gen exclaimed. "You're the one who taught me that. Get down, and let's find the door like normal people."

"At this point, all it could do to me is collapse, which would hurt, but get me to the other side anyway," said Ollie, very sensibly, she thought. "So hurry up and climb up with me. This will probably only work once."

"Really glad I'm not wearing a skirt," grumbled Gen, as she scrambled up the wall with Ollie's assistance. Once on top, they grinned at each other, and turned to face the inside of the Labyrinth.

"Alley-oop!" Ollie exclaimed, swinging her legs over the edge and dropping to the ground. Gen followed, just as carefree. They were in another corridor, this one just as endless as the outer wall. Ollie approached this wall and made to climb it like the previous one, but it melted under her hand, and they stumbled into the inner part of the Labyrinth proper.

"I'm not mad at you," said Gen conversationally, as they started forward, picking a direction at random. "This looks like it could be fun."

* * *

"Looks like fun, does it now?" Jareth muttered, as he watched through a crystal. The taller girl's blunt refusal to play the first two walls' games had made him grumpy, but forced him to change his evaluation of the duo. He had initially intended to ignore the newest adventurers in his labyrinth, and shunt them into an oubliette as soon as possible, but had decided to watch, on the premise that it was a novel occurrence. After all, he'd never had two people try to go through together.

"I'm a dragon!" Isaac told the passel of mangy goblins skittering around the throne room. "I'm a magic dragon, and I'm going to eat you all!"

"We have dragon-beating sticks," squeaked a short, fluffy thing wearing a helmet and huge tusks. A chorus of goblins agreed, nodding.

"No, that's not my weakness," said Isaac. "I'll eat you all if you don't find it!"

Jareth sighed. The little brother, Isaac, was not afraid of the goblins. He did not even attempt to tell them that they did not exist, a defense mechanism of many children his age who encountered the Goblin City. For a seven-year-old boy, he seemed remarkably at home amongst macabre creatures such as these.

Indeed, he was making them play his game, instead of the other way around. A very precocious child, this fair-haired midget.

Jareth returned his attention to the girls in the maze, watching the crystal idly. If they were going to be having fun, he felt he ought to as well. The darker girl, the younger one and sister to the boy, was too young to properly appreciate the games Jareth liked to play. How old had Isaac mentioned she was? Twelve, thirteen? She looked older, but nonetheless.

The other girl, the fair one, who had straightforwardly circumvented the first two obstacles, now she, he might be able to play with.

Lazily, Jareth grinned. She would beg him to let her wash his dishes by the time he was through.

* * *

_Hai Gais, I know, it's totally retarded, but nyah. _

_These are a pair of protagonists from an original fairy story I'm writing elsewhere. They have a habit of Getting In Very Deep, with rather dangerous fey, so it seemed appropriate that they would end up challenging Jareth at some point in time._

_Honestly? I don't know what I'm going to do about Sarah and her friends in this. I know, I adore J/S too, but the plotbunny for this story fit better with Ollie and Gen than Sarah. I tried it out both ways, and this is the version I liked._

_Expect more retarded randomness, and equal doses of "It's not fair!" and "This shit is ridiculous," the former courtesy Gen, the latter, Ollie. _


End file.
